Fans often rave about the expansive and intricate shared Marvel movie universe, but what if operating within that pre-ordained structure felt like a chore for the filmmakers of Marvel’s stand-alone films? Apparently, that may be the case for Alan Taylor, the director of Thor: The Dark World.

Slight Spoilers Ahead

In a new interview with Bleeding Cool, Taylor opened up about the first of two of post-credits scenes, seeming less than enchanted by the deviation in tone from Thor to the Guardians of the Galaxy-centric tease that is nestled into the very back end of his film.

Bleeding Cool: So you’re not quite comfortable with it?

Alan Taylor: I am very happy not to take responsibility for that…

Bleeding Cool: It’s a different tone for sure, huh?

Alan Taylor: It’s a different tone. I would have shot it differently. But I think it’s cool that it reaches out and touches that other universe. That universe is coming. The Guardians universe is really cool and wacky… but that sequence in the credits, I would say, is the only part of the movie where I’m happy to give the credit away…

Now, before anyone starts jumping up and down on Taylor’s back, accusing him of not being a team player, all would be wise to try to relate to his predicament. Imagine you had spent a fair amount of time at your job putting together a very serious and spreadsheet-y project, only to have someone doodle a set of dick and balls onto the back page underneath your summation.

Now, I have no earthly idea how Thor: The Dark World ends — like 99.999% of the world, I haven’t seen it yet — but if Taylor concludes this epic in a dark or impactful way, I can completely understand why he might not be over the moon about a piece of lightness, or another type of major shift in tone taking the piss out of that closing moment.

This shared universe and all these teasers are pure fan service, but they don’t usually do much more than tease future projects. Really, they’re a marketing tool that is meant to enhance the buzz coming off of one project leading into the next. Hosting them in one’s film is part of the cost of doing business, as is checking off all the boxes that Marvel corporate and the great and powerful Whedon demand get checked off, but while it is surprising to hear Taylor grouse about it, you sorta feel for the guy in that his interests lie solely in telling a satisfying and complete Thor story, not in selling tickets to the next thing that he has no hand in.

Yeah, it feels like a little thing to we plebeians, but if we’re sitting in the theater on November 8th, emotionally destroyed by the end of Thor: The Dark World, and Rocket Raccoon comes onto the screen to describe for us — in vivid detail — all the ways that he would do various other members of the Marvel Movie Universe, I suppose we’ll better understand Taylor’s frustration.

Source: Bleeding Cool, but we read about it first on IO9, who saw it on Cinema Blend, who had a meerkat send them a snapchat link about it off of a Reddit post by a guy who saw a friend discussing it on Twitter after he had seen Bleeding Cool’s original Facebook post about the article. THE INTERNET!

Contributors

Buy Our Shirts

A news and entertainment blog for nerd pop culture. We are vulgar, debaucherous, and funny bastards that pilfer the internet (or interwebz, if you like) for the news you need so that you don't have to. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll often shake your fist in an angry fury but your time here is worth the price of admission (which is free for those of you not paying attention)